The Rise of the Religious Right: Part II

[Most of what follows on this page was modified from TheocracyWatch, a site well worth visiting. Other than some minor later modifications, this page was written and revised long before the 2004 election. Unfortunately, the predictions contained herein have become true.]

"Believe"

"The Christian Coalition is certain to make 1992 much more interesting and disturbing than the conventional wisdom is ready to believe. Believe." So investigative journalist Frederick Clarkson warned us after attending one of the first Christian Coalition "Road to Victory" gatherings in 1991. Clarkson was part of a group of journalists who documented those early years when the Christian Coalition took "working control" of the Republican Party.

Clarkson was talking about the 1992 elections. Just two years later, the Christian Coalition gave the Republican Party majorities in both Houses of Congress for the first time in forty years. Four years after that, a sitting President was impeached for a sexual indiscretion. Is the conventional wisdom ready to believe that the Religious Right could gain control over all three branches of the federal government? Is it conceivable that the United States could become a fundamentalist Christian theocracy or what the Orlando New Times calls The United States of Jesus?

Do you know these people?

United States Senate Republican Leadership

Bill Frist, TN

Mitch McConnell, KY

Rick Santorum, PA

Bob Bennet, UT

Kay Bailey Hutchinson, TX

Jon Kyle, AZ

George Allen, VA

For a long time, they were the seven highest ranking Republican Senators in the U.S. Senate and they controlled the legislative process in the U.S.

Every one of them received a scorecard of 100% from the Christian Coalition.

That means they voted with the Christian Coalition 100% of the time.

How were people representing such an extreme ideological point of view elected to the top positions in the Republican Party?

The leaders of the Republican Party were chosen by their colleagues. That means that the Christian Coalition had complete control of the Republican Party and, through them, the United States. And because of U.S. importance in any international cooperation on the issues facing our species, the Christian Coalition had inordinate influence on the future of all humanity.

And if you question the power of religion, if you are wondering how these "leaders" get elected, take a look at:

Their Amazing World of Soundbite Politics:
How to Serve God & Country with Bumperstickers!

"Ask not what your country can do for you;
Ask not what you can do for your country;
Just put a bumpersticker on your SUV."— Rick Santorum, Third Ranking Republican Leader in the US Senate

Look at the graph on your right.

It is based on the 2001 Christian Coalition Scorecards, so it shows how often members of the U.S. Senate voted with or against Christian Coalition supported bills. Republicans are red, Democrats are blue.

This graph explains why the seven top ranking leaders received scores of 100%. As you can see by the 29 Republican Senators who received scores of 100%, and the 13 who received scores of 80% from Christian Coalition, 42 out of 49 Republican Senators in 2001 supported the agenda of the Religious Right.

The next graph on the left shows the Christian Coalition Scorecard for 2004. If 2001 wasn't bad enough, the 2004 graph shows that things have gotten worse. Forty-one out of fifty-one
Republican Senators received scores of 100% from Christian Coalition, meaning they voted with Christian Coalition 100% of the time. Thirty-one out of forty-eight Democrats and one independent received scores of 0.

One Democrat received a score of 100% -- Zell Miller, (D-GA) who was in the national spotlight when he spoke at the Republican convention. Occasionally, a Democrat comes from the theocratic right, but it is the exception. Now that Zell Miller has retired, he will become a regular contributor to the Fox News Channel, which has been dubbed "Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism."

March Toward Theocracy

Since the Religious Right began to dominate the Republican Party, and the Republican Party won majorities in both Houses of the U.S. Congress, the influence of the Religious Right has become immense. And they have a powerful ally in the White House. The President's Faith-Based Initiative is transforming the United States into a "Christian" nation.

What does the Religious Right need in the 2004 elections to achieve their political goals? President Bush needs to be re-elected, Republicans need to gain enough seats in the U.S. Senate to stop Democratic filibusters of Bush's extreme judicial nominations, and 2-4 justices need to retire from the U.S. Supreme Court. Then the president, with consent from a Republican-controlled Senate, could give the country a Scalia Supreme Court. At that point it's possible that the Religious Right could control all three branches of the United States government. As for thepresent, Senate Republicans are unable to rally the sixty votes required to end filibusters, many recent court decisions have upheld the principle of separation of church and state, and Democracy still has a fighting chance.

Christianization of the Republican Party: In Their Own Words

Christianization of the Republican Party, an article from the The Christian Statesman, claims,

"Once dismissed as a small regional movement, Christian conservatives have become a staple of politics nearly everywhere. Christian conservatives now hold a majority of seats in 36% of all Republican Party state committees (or 18 of 50 states), plus large minorities in 81% of the rest, double their strength from a decade before."

"The twin surges of Christians into GOP ranks in the early 1980s and early 1990s have begun to bear fruit, as naïve, idealistic recruits have transformed into savvy operatives and leaders, building organizations, winning leadership positions, fighting onto platform committees, and electing many of their own to public office.

The Christian Statesmanis a publication of the National Reform Association. Who is the National Reform Association?

"The mission of the National Reform Association is to maintain and promote in our national life the Christian principles of civil government, which include, but are not limited to, the following:

"Jesus Christ is Lord in all aspects of life, including civil government.

"Jesus Christ is, therefore, the Ruler of Nations, and should be explicitly confessed as such in any constitutional documents. The civil ruler is to be a servant of God, he derives his authority from God and he is duty-bound to govern according to the expressed will of God.

"The civil government of our nation, its laws, institutions, and practices must therefore be conformed to the principles of Biblical law as revealed in the Old and New Testaments."

How did this happen?

Voter apathy is the key to the phenomenal ascent of the Religious Right in the U.S. government.

"With the apathy that exists today, a small, well-organized minority can influence the selection of candidates to an astonishing degree."

Pat Robertson wrote those words in The Millennium, 1990, and it has been a key organizing principle of the Religious Right ever since.

Pat Robertson tells us who makes up that "well-organized minority." It includes only Christians who share his point of view. As he said on his television program, the 700 Club: "You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists, and this and that and the other thing. Nonsense! I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist." (Pat Robertson, the Most Dangerous Man in America? Rob Boston),

"The apathy of other Americans can become a blessing and advantage to Christians," wrote Mark Belisle and Stephen McDowell in 1989, in America's Providential History a popular textbook for Christian schools and the Christian homeschool movement.

"If just 10% of all Christians in America today woke up and realized how easy it is, got involved consistently for the long haul, it would not take long to reform America completely."

For the authors, the term "Christian" refers to a very narrow group of people. The word "reform" is key. It means reforming the United Sates so that it becomes a "Christian" nation, or theocracy.

"How long?" continue Belisle and McDowell in 1989.

"Believe it or not, it could be done within ten years. Every godly representative in the state legislatures and the Congress could ... work with a godly president. New judicial appointments would begin radically changing ... the courts ... One thing of great importance is for you to fulfill your Biblical duty to choose a godly representative by getting involved in local party politics for the rest of your life."

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